Harlan hated it at first.

But not having magic, it was… calming, all of the voices, the feelings, that came into his mind, they were gone.

He was weaker, he wasn’t going to be splitting any boulders with his pinkie, but he was still well above a normal person.

So, he used what magic he still had left to help with construction, to entertain his daughter, who was walking around like a toddler already.

After just a few weeks, and with Fomoria’s help, he was almost back to his peak, not that he told Rosewell.

Vivi was running around, but when Harlan came back into the room she pulled on his jacket.

“Hold.”

He picked her up and spun around, gently of course.

“It’s been nice to have you around so much. Is Rosewell alright with this? I mean, you could still be designing things.”

“Not a word of complaint from her. Apparently she is working with Fomoria on something, but I don’t know any details, and I didn’t ask.”

Vivi spit up on him, but he found no issues with this.

Not because he could clean it with a swipe of his hand using some basic magic, but because he just enjoyed all of the extra time he had with her that let her throw up on him so often.

“We should visit Ximena and Claude. Maybe we can see Blackstone after, let her play with Tenebria.”

“Zella?”

“She could be fighting.”

He handed Vivi back to Adina.

“I’m going to call Claude and Blackstone, then Zella, maybe. It’s not that I wouldn’t take Vivi to a warzone, but I doubt she would be willing to come here.”

He stepped out of the room for a moment while Adina put Vivi down for a nap so he could make his calls.

“Claude, how are you?”

“Fine. Good. Just great.”

“Alright, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. What are you calling for?”

“I wanted to come over with Adina and Vivi, it’s been a while since we last saw one another.”

“Now’s not a great time… But-”

“If I have to call Ximena, are you going to regret it?”

“What? No, I just think that- Something is happening, I’ll call you-”

The arrays of House Dyad shuddered, something was coming through, not by way of breaking, but bypassing.

“back.”

“Did you forget that I am a royal guard? I can enter your home without permission. Now, come on, let’s talk.”

Guards rushed into the room.

“Sir Claude-”

“It’s fine, Sir Fomoria is just here for an uninvited visit.”

“Sir Fomoria, without prior-”

“If anyone asks I am going to just say it was official business and nothing will happen, so don’t bother me about it.”

The men were hesitant, but Claude waved them away.

“Harlan, really, you don’t need to be here, I’m busy-”

“With wedding planning? The war? What is it?”

“I’m still negotiating with my parents about Ximena and I.”

“Last I heard you threatened to disown yourself from the family if they didn’t accept it.”

“They let her stay, and we are still together, but-”

“But they want you to keep her as a mistress yet married off to some other woman.”

“How did you know?”

“What else would they do? Yggdra offered his daughter to me, even gave me an out with a mistress.

Come, we are going to talk with your father.”

“Can you talk to Ximena? I can speak with my parents, I just need more time to-”

Harlan slapped Claude.

“What was that for?”

Claudia rushed in from her room across the hall, rubbing her cheek.

“Why did you hit him?”

“Because he’s an idiot. Claude, Ximena is going to be your wife, you are going to spend the rest of your lives together, don’t be a pushover, fight for her or let somebody who can love her do it.”

“Sir Fomoria, you-”

“I am not above slapping a woman. Claude, we are going to your father’s office, now.”

“He’s probably in a meeting, we-”

“Don’t care. Claudia, get Ximena and tell her to come.”

“I don’t need to listen to your orders.”

“Do you love your brother? Then let him be happy, don’t drag him down like the rest of your family.”

He did not remain in the room to see what she would do, he had faith that she knew the right thing to do.

As he had been told, Count Dyad was in a meeting when Harlan burst into the room.

“Sir Fomoria what-”

“You, get out, you can talk business or whatever this is later.”

“I-”

“Did that sound like a question? I will toss you through a window.”

Whoever the man was, he left with haste.

“Count Dyad, why do you hate your son?”

He sighed, pinching his brow.

“You have no legal right to-”

“When was the last time that I cared about the law? Claude, take over.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He hesitated to speak, and when Harlan left the room, he just stood in silence.

“Claude, why has that buffoon burst into our home, my home?”

“He called, asking to come over to visit, and when I said that I was busy, he must’ve… thought something was wrong.”

“Yes, there is something wrong, you are still in my office interrupting my business, and you are still clinging to the idea of marrying that woman.”

“Apologies for… No, I, I am going to marry her, and I am going to leave if you say another word about denying us any longer.”

“Yes, you said that before. Just accept having a mistress and get over this childish love.”

“No, I am leaving. Goodbye.”

Yet instead of Claude going out, Claudia came in, quietly closing the door behind her.

“Father, I believe that-”

“If I had asked for your opinion, then you would be allowed to give it. Both of you, leave.”

Claudia locked arms with Claude.

“I have no issue with being married off, there is little reason for Claude to be forced to do the same thing.”

“There is no force here. But he cannot leave with family secrets either.”

“Do you mean our bloodline?”

“I do not want it diluted or mutated by Golden blood. He is free to sleep with her, but he will not marry her, and he will not have children with her.”

“We aren’t even the firstborn, why does it matter?”

Back outside, Alan and Alice had arrived as soon as they could, to the annoyance of other investigators.

“You can’t be here.” “You have no right to-”

“I will say the same thing to you that I said to him. I don’t care about the law, that much is clear.

And I’ll add what I said to your guards, I will claim this is official business, Rosewell is going to back me up, and nothing will happen. So, why don’t we just have a nice long chat.

Is the reason your father is doing this because he is controlling? Are one or both of you infertile? Or-”

“Don’t insult us.” “You know nothing of-”

“Yeah yeah yeah. Claude and Claudia are the backups, why does he actually give a shit about him being married? Do you have a nice young girl lined up already? Because I would hope that he would be willing to give up a political marriage so his son can be happy.”

Yet the twins did not answer back, and instead started trying to shove past him.

“Group hug.”

Both twins started trying to break out of his vice-like grip by striking at certain pressure points.

Yet in Harlan’s many years of body modification, both intentional and instinctual, most of these pressure points had been covered by hardened muscle growths that caused anything these two could do with their hands and elbows to have no effect.

“Don’t you care about your brother?”

“Father knows best.” “Claude is a child.”

“Claude is 19, very nearly 20. And that doesn’t really answer my other questions. So, until they come out of that room, neither of you are allowed in. Ximena, I expected you alongside Claudia.”

“What exactly is happening here?”

“Family therapy, which is to say, I can’t believe someone like Claude came from this pit of vipers.”

More guards arrived, and they started striking at him with their pommels and crossguards of their weapons.

“Your men are pitiful.”

Ximena had been standing off to the side for almost 10 minutes, waiting for Claude to come out, and for the guards and soldiers of Count Dyad to give up on breaking his grip.

“I thought he was still weakened.”

They wrapped a rope around his arm and brought golems to pull it while they greased the twins.

Finally, after another five minutes of this, Charlin arrived.

“Sir Fomoria, Queen Yggdra has requested that I confirm your location. But, since I am here, I will request that you leave House Dyad alone.”

He dropped them like sacks of bricks and unraveled the ropes with telekinesis.

“Alright. Does she need anything?”

“No.”

“Ximena, it’s good to see you again. If what I think is happening happens, I’ll of course give you a place to stay.”

“What do you think is happening?”

“I can feel their minds syncing up like when they were younger. Either he is leaving you, which I doubt, or Claudia is going to leave with you two. Well, I need to go before things turn to violence, just call when you need to be picked up.”

She gave him a hug before he left.

Harlan decided not to even bother calling Blackstone, they just arrived at her doorstep and were welcomed in by the guards.

Tenebria was walking around the garden with Blackstone and Cu.

The hound was the first to notice his presence; Cu snarled.

“Stand down, it’s just Harlan.”

He kept a low stance, as if he was going to leap, but righted himself when Blackstone flicked his nose.

“Cu, I see you still don’t like me.”

The wolfhound stood four feet at the withers, the small beard which he had before was now longer and a brighter white, making him look older and wisened.

Cu sniffed at Harlan, and then Adina and Vivi, before going back to lick Harlan’s hand.

He pet the hound, though why he seemed to accept him now was unclear.

“Harlan, it has been some time.”

“I’m sorry about that. My priorities haven’t been what they should’ve been.”

“That’s fine, you’re young. And by that answer, I assume that this is a house call.”

“Yes, we are just here to let the little ones play together, if that’s alright.”

“Tenebria would love that. Wouldn’t you?”

She had been hiding behind her mother since the moment Cu showed dislike towards Harlan.

“Who are that?”

“Who is that, you mean. That is your cousin, Harlan. And that is Vivi.”

Viviane had a sour look on her face, Adina’s dislike of Cu’s dislike of Harlan had flowed into her.

But, when Adina set her down and she ran over to Cu, pulling on his beard, causing the hound to lower his head to avoid her pulling any of it out.

Once Vivi realized what Cu was doing, she started leading him around the garden.

When she found it fun, she decided to do the same to Tenebria, who started to cry and hold onto her mother.

“It’s alright, you can go with her.”

Tenebria disagreed with the assessment and rebuked her mother with a well reasoned refutation, crying and saying that she didn’t want to go.

Blackstone’s compromise was to let VIviane take her right hand, and then Tenebria held her mother’s left hand, and they all walked together.

He never had cousins, grandparents, aunts, or any other extended family beyond Redmond.

To him, it was beautiful that Viviane would have somebody her age to play with even though she didn’t have any siblings.

“She is a natural leader.”

“She is.”

Despite the age difference, Viviane and Tenebria were nearly the same size.

“Was she large as a newborn?”

“Normal size. She’s just growing fast.”

“Do you think she is going to be a giant?”

“I hope not. But I don’t think she will. My bodily processes happen faster than normal, but they still tend to end normally. If I were to guess, she is going to have periods of rapid growth and then almost no growth at all. Actual Fomorians tend towards being taller than humans by a significant margin, if they are fed properly, which almost none have been in the last…”

Harlan’s fight or flight activated, his vision slowed, and in an instant his body moved like a liquid, his form shadow, and he lightly pulled on Viviane’s dress to prevent her from tripping, then, he was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Blackstone was looking forward, and noticed nothing, since when his body became ethereal, there was no air displacement.

But Adina and her magical eyes did notice.

What was strange was that Harlan had turned into a shadow in the first place.

His shifting had always been matter to matter, flesh to flesh, there was only one time when his body entered an immaterial state, and Harlan hadn’t even known about it.

This time, he had also failed to realize what had happened, his mind processed the sensation as nothing abnormal, he only felt his body move.

“1500 years. I wouldn’t be shocked if she was as tall as me, but probably no more. I was never underfed, but I also wasn’t burning through food like Viviane does, and I wasn’t born enhanced.

Maybe she will be a giant.”

“Well, I have a wonderful tailor who knows how to make large dresses that make a woman seem smaller.”

“Or she could marry a Dague.”

“A what?”

“I guess Fomoria hasn’t come to visit. Or, if he has, it was after he stopped being blue.”

“Was he depressive?”

“No, he actually turned himself a gray blue to better fit in with the Dague, who are a pale blue, but, not as pale as he was.”

“A blue people? My, the veil has kept some strange things out of this place.”

To some, spending the day as he had was nothing but a waste.

Had he known what was to come, he would’ve just panicked, tried to change things, but as many times before, there wasn’t anything to be done.

----------------------------------------

Letters arrived to many groups and individuals, a time, a place, and what was expected of them.

Most of them were almost more worried about how somebody got a letter to them than about the actual contents of it.